Morsy M A, Gupta S, Dora C P, Jhawat V, Dhanawat M, Mehta D, Gupta K, Nair A B, El-Daly M
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2023 Feb;27(4):1633-1653. doi: 10.26355/eurrev_202302_31408.
The mere glimpse of venomous animals has always terrified humans because of the devastating effects of their venoms. However, researchers across the globe have isolated therapeutically active ingredients from these venoms and continue to explore them for drug leads. These efforts lead to the discovery of therapeutic molecules that the US-FDA has approved to treat different diseases, such as hypertension (Captopril), chronic pain (Ziconotide), and diabetes (Exenatide). The main active constituents of most venoms are proteins and peptides, which gained more attention because of advancements in biotechnology and drug delivery. The utilization of newer screening approaches improved our understanding of the pharmacological complexity of venom constituents and facilitated the development of novel therapeutics. Currently, with many venom-derived peptides undergoing different phases of clinical trials, more are in pre-clinical drug development phases. This review highlights the various sources of venoms, their pharmacological actions, and the current developments in venom-based therapeutics.
仅仅瞥见有毒动物就总是会让人类感到恐惧，因为它们的毒液具有毁灭性的影响。然而，全球的研究人员已经从这些毒液中分离出了具有治疗活性的成分，并继续对它们进行探索以寻找药物先导物。这些努力促成了治疗性分子的发现，美国食品药品监督管理局（US-FDA）已批准这些分子用于治疗不同的疾病，如高血压（卡托普利）、慢性疼痛（齐考诺肽）和糖尿病（艾塞那肽）。大多数毒液的主要活性成分是蛋白质和肽，由于生物技术和药物递送方面的进展，它们受到了更多关注。更新的筛选方法的应用增进了我们对毒液成分药理复杂性的理解，并促进了新型疗法的开发。目前，许多源自毒液的肽正处于临床试验的不同阶段，还有更多处于临床前药物开发阶段。这篇综述重点介绍了毒液的各种来源、它们的药理作用以及基于毒液的疗法的当前进展。
